This will be a workshop to play music, not to watch. Paul will go through tunes phrase by phrase for melody makers on fiddle or mandolin, while Emily will play the chords on guitar. We have our own style of chord charts for everyone. We’ll teach a tarantella and a mazurka. We will introduce a few tunes from our recent visit to the Caffaro Valley in Northern Italy, where we collected tunes from a fiddle band playing for the village dancers. If time permits, we may share a video of the dancers and musicians in action.

Paul Rangell and Emily Abbink play traditional music from the old country and the new world. They specialize in tunes from Italy, Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona, and the Carribean that feature angular and distinctive rhythms like tangos, mazurkas, shotis, boleros, tarantellas, pasodobles and marches. They are founding members of Bayou Seco (New Mexico) and performed for seven years with El Teatro Campesino (San Juan Bautista, CA) in theatrical productions. At home in Santa Cruz, California, they collaborate with several notorious musicians in maintaining three weekly public gigs where people are eating and drinking. Together they have forged a large repertoire and recorded two CDs Tuesday Nights (2012) and Noche Azul (2014). This year, a six-week music residency in Venice, Italy allowed contact with traditional musicians in the mountains of Northern Italy.

Travis and Trevor Stuart:

Fiddle/Banjo Duets

This workshop will focus on the repertoire of WNC tunes, waltzes, and the dynamic interplay of these two instruments in a duet setting. Through demonstrations of tunes and techniques, the brothers share helpful tips on: playing together as a duo, matching rhythms, and the role of each instrument in a duo setting.

The Stuart Brothers are world renown for their masterful performances of Appalachian fiddle and banjo duets. Trevor and Travis were born and raised in Bethel , a rural farming community in Haywood County, NC — an area of magical beauty where the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains meet and once the ancient Cherokee settlement of Sonoma. These majestic ranges surrounded the young brothers with the rich musical and cultural environment of Appalachian fiddle tunes, Baptist spirituals, banjo pickers, all night square dance shindigs and poetic tale weavers.
With deep family musical roots, their great grandfather was the legendary fiddler Rev. Henry King, and great uncle the banjoist and singer Austin Stamey. The brothers learned some of the oldest regional fiddle and banjo styles from masters such as the Smathers Family, Byard Ray, Oscar “Red” Wilson, Gordon Freeman, and the Sutton family. They formed their first band in junior high and played for local clogging teams, local functions and fiddlers conventions. Since then they have toured extensively throughout the US and several foreign countries, teaching and performing at major festivals and music camps.

Charmaine Slaven

Appalachian Flatfoot Dancing:

Learn the art of accompanying Southern fiddle music with your feet! We’ll start with the basic rhythm foundation steps, and learn accent steps as we go, with an emphasis on dancing with good musicianship. All levels are encouraged to participate, as we’ll start by building a foundation of basic rhythm steps, then build upon those steps, learning how to accent melodies. Flatfooting is an excellent way to improve your rhythm as a dancer and/or musician. You’ll be learning to let your entire body “hear” the music. It’s also an excellent work-out, as you’ll be so entrenched in the music, you won’t even realize you’re working up a sweat! This class is physical, so be cautious if you suffer from back, hip, knee, ankle issues. Comfortable clothing, a full water bottle, and low-heeled leather-soled shoes appropriate for dancing are recommended. Please feel free to contact me in advance with any questions atcharmaineslaven@gmail.com

Charmaine Slaven, the guitar player of venerable Northwest bands, The Tallboys & Squirrel Butter, is well-known for her skill as a flatfoot dancer, singer, and, of course, caller extraordinaire! She has committed years of time and energy into promoting traditional square dance & old-time music around the West coast, and is a founding member of the Seattle Subversive Square Dance Society, has helped shepherd the Dare to be Square West conference, and organizes dances, jams, and concerts around Seattle, including the Tractor Tavern Square Dances, & NW Folklife Festival Square Dances.

Devin Champlin

Beginning Fingerpicking Guitar

Learn some basic finger picking patterns that are the foundation of many forms of rural blues music. We’ll cover the driving single string thumb style of greats like Mance Lipscomb, and the alternating bass style of Mississippi John Hurt and others. We’ll also go over a few embellishments that can apply to many songs. Participants should be comfortable playing and switching basic chords, open to all!

Devin Champlin plays guitar, fiddle, mandolin and more in bands like The Gallus Brothers, The Hi-O Revelers, The Crow Quill Night Owls, and Maria Muldaur’s Garden of Joy Jugband. As a guitar player he mostly sticks to the country blues and is a dynamic fingerpicker. On the fiddle and mandolin he plays for square dances, honky tonks, and is very fond of rags and blues. He is passionate about music, loves to share it, and has taught at various festivals along the West coast. When not playing, he builds and repairs guitars in Seattle, and is known to make pretty good waffles.

Beverly Smith

Old-Time Back-Up Guitar

Welcome to the wonderful world of back up guitar! This class is for new comers and experienced players as well. If you can move comfortably between A D G E and C you will have an easier time. We will be working with backing up a fiddler, finding the chords, the groove, and adding some cool embellishments. I will mostly be teaching with a flat pick so bring one along if you can. More advanced players will have the opportunity to explore a variety of bass runs and chord choices. Be prepared for fun!

An intermediate course in the art of Appalachian flatfoot dance with Ruth Alpert and Rebecca Stout. Refine your technique! This class is for folks who feel they have the basics down and are ready to move on to a higher level of difficulty. Learn the classic Tennessee Walking Step, Snake Legs and The Indian. Get in-depth advice on musical phrasing so that you are not only keeping the beat, but playing the tune with your feet!

Ruth Alpert has been flatfooting for 34 years. She has taught workshops, danced with old-time Appalachian string bands, busked (street performed) in various cities in at least 6 states, and is a two time National Champion in Senior Buck Dancing, 2013 and 2014. Currently, Ruth is the percussion section of The Honeysuckle Possums, an all-female string band playing original and traditional music.

Rebecca Stout began clogging as a child in Cordele, Georgia, as part of the community mountain-style clogging group The Dixieland Cloggers. She went on to spend the next three decades developing and fine-tuning her unique “Tennessee Shuffle” style of free-form flatfoot and buck dance, inspired by friends, relations, masters and mentors throughout Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia. Today, Rebecca teaches and performs traditional Appalachian dance with a focus on dance as a percussive instrument, while encouraging students to develop their own personal style. More info at www.flatfootandfancyfree.com

David Bragger

Old-Time Fiddle Tunes and BowingThis workshop is for all levels! The objective is to get the fiddler playing some incredible tunes with a focus on rhythm and interchangeable variations. I’ll be drawing from a vast repertoire of Kentucky, West Virginia and Louisiana fiddle tunes that are rhythmic and easy to grasp. As always, my workshops emphasize the key ingredient to old-time fiddle: bowing!! All workshop attendees will receive audio files of the tunes with phrase by phrase instruction. Please email davidbragger@yahoo.com for registration and questions.

David Bragger plays banjo, fiddle and mandolin in the old-time stringboard Sausage Grinder and in several local dance bands. David teaches old-time fiddle, banjo and mandolin to students of all ages and levels. He is also the host of the Old Time Tiki Parlour (oldtimetikiparlour.com) which produces concerts, workshops and films by the best old-time musicians alive, including Kirk Sutphin, Dan Gellert, Bruce Molsky, Bob Carlin, Eric & Suzy Thompson, Bertram Levy, etc. His students have won awards at festivals from Topanga Fiddle Banjo Festival to Galax, Virginia. Most importantly, he shows you how to have a foot-stomping good time!

Susan Michaels

How to Call a Square Dance

Learn how to call squares for your friends and family. Beginners welcome. Or just show up and get your dancing shoes on.

Susan Michaels is a teacher and a caller of traditional American dancing, especially contra dancing and square dancing. She has called and taught dances at local evenings, weekend workshops, week-long elementary school programs, week-long family camps and dance weekends throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Kelly Marie Martin and Sabra Guzman

Harmony Singing

Grabbing from early Country Music groups such as the Carter Family, E.C. & Orna Ball and the Delmore Brothers, we will work on how to best find the harmonies that fit for not only this genre of music but also for your voice and your singing partner. We will look at how harmony and melodies can best compliment each other by listening to and learning songs that are in the American Folk Canon. No experience necessary, just a desire to sing!

Kelly Marie Martin sings and plays guitar in Triple Chicken Foot and Chicken Liquor and in her yellow kitchen in Historic Filippinotown. She loves close harmony and loves to sing with Sabra whenever she’s in town.

Sabra Guzmán has been a part of Virginia since 2007, where she’s become a fully entrenched member of the burgeoning old-time & country music scene of the Appalachians and beyond. A founding member of the award winning old-time bands Old Sledge and Old Buck, Sabra is well known for her solid guitar & bass skills, her unique vocal stylings, and her captivating stage presence. She has been seen at many prestigious venues & festivals – Freight & Salvage, Pickathon, Blackpot, Club Passim, The Los Angeles Old Time Social, The Ark, Floydfest, Bristol Rhythm and Roots – and received a coveted first place Traditional Old Time band at the Clifftop Appalachian Stringband Festival.Sabra brings a musicianship and her unique approach to all projects, regardless of genre or instrumentation.

The Gallus Brothers sound like a record collection found in the basement of a retired acrobat with a penchant for good old fashioned blues. Devin Champlin savagely syncopates on a reso-phonic guitar, while Lucas Hicks amps it up by playing percussion on a suitcase full of bones, bells and antique tomfoolery. Both are talented multi-instrumentalists and their sets are a mix of country blues, old tin pan alley songs, mandolin and fiddle tunes, and a dash of danger by way of acrobatic antics. They have played across the US and Canada from festival stage to smoky bar, wooing crowds with their fun music, their good humor, and their willingness to jump on a table, stand on each other, and juggle while playing a good old tune from way back when.

John Grimm and Beverly Smith live in the mountains of North Georgia in the beautiful little town of Dahlonega, in Lumpkin County. For the past 25 years, John has owned and operated the towns music store, Vintage Music, while Beverly toured the world in various band configurations. Since 2010 John and Beverly have been performing together at festivals, concerts, workshops and dances across the country and abroad. Their performances feature traditional country duets, fiddle tunes and originals. They choose their songs well; their traditional songs and tunes reveal a deep familiarity with and great love for the genre. From archaic banjo and haunting fiddle tunes to raucous hillbilly singing and aching ballads they display an ease that sounds nothing but genuine.

John Grimm is an award winning fiddler and multi-instrumentalist who has played with many old time bands such as The Georgia Mudcats, The Georgia Potlickers, and Rural Radio Company. He was a recent recipient of the Dr. Gene Wiggins Award in recognition of long and significant contributions to traditional music in N. Georgia. Dr. Wiggins was the author of the book “Fiddling Georgia Crazy” the definitive book on fiddler John Carson. John played the role of John Carson in the PBS film “The People vs. Leo Frank” and has appeared in the Atlanta production of “The Cotton Patch Gospel”. In addition to his old time performances he teaches fiddle with the highly successful “Pick & Bow” after school program, and has played with The Indigo Girls, Jonathan Byrd, Shawn Mullins, Rising Appalachia, The Little Country Giants, Pauline Scanlon and others.

One of the most respected guitar players in old time music today, Beverly Smith is also in demand as a singer, fiddler, and dance caller. Besides her three highly praised recordings of early country duets with mandolinist Carl Jones, her guitar playing has been featured on recordings of fiddlers Bruce Molsky, Rafe Stefanini, Tara Nevins and Brad Leftwich, and her singing with Mick Moloney, John Doyle, Laurie Lewis and others. Along with June Drucker, Rose Sinclair and Tara Nevins, she was a founding member of The Heartbeats Rhythm Quartet. She has taught guitar, fiddle and dance at music camps including Ashokan Southern Week, Augusta Heritage, Swannanoa Gathering, Blue Ridge Old-Time Music Week, Festival of American Fiddle Tunes and Summer Acoustic Music Week as well as Sore Fingers UK; Haapavesi, Finland; and La Fuente del Musica in Spain. She has been a featured guest on A Prairie Home Companion, ETown, Mountain Stage and Voice of America, has toured extensively in both the US and the UK, and has played concert halls and festivals all over Europe, Canada and the US. Her guitar playing was featured in the October 2000 issue of Acoustic Guitar Magazine. Besides her duo with John Grimm, Beverly currently plays and tours with Alice Gerrard, the indisputable Queen of Old Time Music.

*****

Riley Baugus, Sabra Guzman, Trevor & Travis Stuart:

RILEY BAUGUS

Riley Baugus represents the best of old time American banjo and song. His powerful singing voice and his expert musicianship place him squarely in the next generation of the quality American roots tradition. Riley first came to music through his family. His father had a love of old time music which touched the young Riley on a molecular level. His family’s attendance at Regular Baptist church gave him early exposure to the unaccompanied singing that is a time-honored tradition for ballad singers throughout the Appalachians. Starting on the fiddle, Riley quickly moved on to the banjo, building his first instrument from scrap wood with his father. With a friend, Riley visited elder traditional musicians throughout North Carolina and Virginia. When not teaching or building banjos, Riley can be found out on the road performing. He plays with the Dirk Powell Band and with Kirk Sutphin. He is a frequent guest of Polecat Creek and of Tim O’Brien with Dirk Powell. With Ira Bernstein, he presents the show “Appalachian Roots”, a unique showcase of Appalachian music and dance. Riley makes his home near Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Sabra Guzmán has been a part of Virginia since 2007, where she’s become a fully entrenched member of the burgeoning old-time & country music scene of the Appalachians and beyond. A founding member of the award winning old-time bands Old Sledge and Old Buck, Sabra is well known for her solid guitar & bass skills, her unique vocal stylings, and her captivating stage presence. She has been seen at many prestigious venues & festivals – Freight & Salvage, Pickathon, Blackpot, Club Passim, The Los Angeles Old Time Social, The Ark, Floydfest, Bristol Rhythm and Roots – and received a coveted first place Traditional Old Time band at the Clifftop Appalachian Stringband Festival. Sabra brings a musicianship and her unique approach to all projects, regardless of genre or instrumentation.

The Stuart Brothers are world renown for their masterful performances of Appalachian fiddle and banjo duets. Trevor and Travis were born and raised in Bethel , a rural farming community in Haywood County, NC — an area of magical beauty where the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains meet and once the ancient Cherokee settlement of Sonoma. These majestic ranges surrounded the young brothers with the rich musical and cultural environment of Appalachian fiddle tunes, Baptist spirituals, banjo pickers, all night square dance shindigs and poetic tale weavers.

With deep family musical roots, their great grandfather was the legendary fiddler Rev. Henry King, and great uncle the banjoist and singer Austin Stamey. The brothers learned some of the oldest regional fiddle and banjo styles from masters such as the Smathers Family, Byard Ray, Oscar “Red” Wilson, Gordon Freeman, and the Sutton family. They formed their first band in junior high and played for local clogging teams, local functions and fiddlers conventions. Since then they have toured extensively throughout the US and several foreign countries, teaching and performing at major festivals and music camps.

The Happy Neighbor Club loves getting together to explore old-time string band traditions from obscure corners of the globe. The members, all from the greater Los Angeles area, have been playing music since the 1960s in various configurations, but met a dozen years ago upon discovering a shared love of early 20th century dance tunes played on fiddle, mandolin, accordion, guitar, cello, and bass. Expect to hear an exotic mix of Mexican paso dobles, Hawaiian marches, Italian polkas, Texas rags, Puerto Rican mazurkas, and even a Finnish hummpa.

Thurs. 5/14, 7pm, $5, 21+

Sausage Grinder, Los Angeles’ all-natural hillbilly and country blues band, combines the traditional sounds of fiddle and banjo breakdowns with the low-down sound of country blues, topped off with a touch of ragtime and hillbilly jazz. The versatile acoustic ensemble features fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin, jug, washboard, and a few odds and ends.

Sausage Grinder was formed in 2008 out of a desire to play this classic music “right” without being slavish imitators or academic lecturers. As old-time and blues fiddler Adam Tanner puts it, Sausage Grinder’s “reverence to the old 78s hasn’t restrained them from exploring even grimier nooks and crannies … unrestrained and impolite the Grinder’s performances are visceral and joyous — a blast from the past with a nod to the immediacy of the future!” Or as LA Weekly says succinctly, the band’s performance feels “reminiscent of an old Mickey Mouse cartoon.”

*****

Tom Sauber & Tom Carter:

Tom Sauber and Tom Carter have been playing old-time southern fiddle and banjo together since the early 1970s. Both first learned from the New Lost City Ramblers, but each in their own way pushed further into the music. Sauber grew up and lives in Los Angeles. In addition to playing in numerous bluegrass and old-time bands–current bands include Loafer’s Glory with Herb Pedersen and his son, Patrick, and Tom, Brad, and Alice, with Brad Leftwich and Alice Gerrard–he received a MA in folklore from ULCA where he researched and recorded the fiddle and banjo music of southern transplants like Earl Collins and Eddie Lowe. Tom is an excellent fiddler and singer, and teams here with his banjo playing friend, Tom Carter. Carter took more of an academic route through the music. After leaving his native Salt Lake City for college in the East, he ended up studying the traditional string band music of the southern Blue Ridge while a graduate student in folklore, first at the University of North Carolina and then Indiana University. While in North Carolina, he played banjo and recorded with the Fuzzy Mountain String Band, as well as producing a number of LPs that introduced everyone to the music of Emmett Lundy, Luther Davis, and JW Spangler. Carter now lives back in Salt Lake City, but the two Toms get together and make music whenever possible.

No catchphrases…..just the real deal. The Fontenot Cajun Creole Band plays for the love of traditional styles of the music of our culture. The group has sprung up from get togethers in Mr Joe’s back room over strong coffee, laughs , and pots simmering on the stove. We play because we love the music and our culture.

Many Louisiana creoles came to the west coast for work after the war and formed communities in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Mr Joe “Sands” Fontenot, on accordion, was born outside of Mamou and raised in L’Anse Grise, Louisiana and moved to Los Angeles seeking work. He brought his music with him like many creoles. In the tradition of Danny Poullard in the bay area and Joe Simien in Los Angeles, Mr Joe carries on the tradition of practicing and keeping the culture alive by playing and extending the music to those that come and sit with him in that practice room at the back of the house. Just like those before him it is all about the feel of the music and passing it on by ear. He will be the last to tell you but his relations are strong in the french creole music tradition as his cousins continue to play on stages and festivals back home.

Guy Martin, on fiddle, was born in New Orleans to a creole mother who spoke french first. He spent time in his early years listening to his Avoyelles Parish born creole grandfather play the fiddle as well as learning Louisiana French from his family. In college he was fortunate to have his ears seasoned on the live playing of Dewey Balfa as well as Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys while working at Mulatte’s cajun restaurant. He feels lucky to continue playing tunes under the guidance of Mr. Joe.

Carolyn Russel brings her depth of experience and feel of playing with Wilfred Latour and Joe Simien internationally. She was instrumental in bringing much of cajun and creole music to Southern California.